Go-live

Why does the go-live matter for SEO?

Before launch, the new site normally runs on a staging environment that is shielded from search engines. At go-live those protections must disappear while redirects from old to new URLs become active. Both changes happen at once, which is where mistakes occur.

Google’s documentation on site moves recommends server-side permanent redirects, such as 301 or 308, and says to keep them as long as possible, generally at least one year. It also advises changing one thing at a time, for example moving to a new domain first and changing the layout afterwards, and timing the move for a period of lower traffic if possible.

What can go wrong?

• A noindex tag or header from staging stays on the live site. Google states that when it crawls a page and finds noindex, it drops the page from search results.
• A staging robots.txt with Disallow: / is copied over. Google also notes that noindex only works if the page is not blocked by robots.txt, so the two rules interact.
• Redirects are missing for some URL groups or run through several hops.
• The old sitemap or the old robots.txt is carried over unchanged.
• There is no plan for the case that the launch fails. Practitioner guides list rollback procedures under technical readiness.

Example

A shop moves to a new CMS and the URLs change. On launch day the staging password is removed, the redirect rules are activated and the new sitemap is submitted in Search Console. Afterwards the team requests the most important old URLs and checks that each returns a 301 to the right new URL.

Go-live checklist

• Password protection, noindex (meta tag or header) and Disallow: / from staging are removed. Google drops pages with noindex from search results.
• robots.txt and the sitemap are the versions meant for production, not the old files or the staging files.
• Redirects from old to new URLs are active (301 or 308) and the most important URLs reach the right target directly.
• The canonical annotations on the new site use the new URLs.
• The new sitemap is submitted in Search Console.
• The launch falls in a period of lower traffic, and domain, CMS and layout do not change at the same time.
• Important URLs return status 200, and URLs that do not exist return a real 404 (practitioner experience).
• The rollback plan is ready: who decides at which symptoms the site is reverted (practitioner experience).
• After launch, crawling, indexing and traffic are watched in the Search Console reports.

FAQ

What does go-live mean? The start of live operation after development and testing.

Do SEO checks end at go-live? No. Crawling, indexing and traffic should be watched in the weeks that follow.

Last updated: October 8, 2026